Sebastopol, CA--"There is an upheaval in the open source landscape,
particularly Linux, and the corporate landscape is changing too," observes
Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly & Associates. Economic pressures
and legal battles have combined to push open source topics to the front
burner as companies, institutions, and governments of every size make
technology decisions. O'Reilly, long a vocal open source advocate, brings
together open source influencers, early adopters, technology activists,
developers, and business leaders to evaluate and debate the evolving open
source landscape at OSCON, the annual O'Reilly Open Source Convention.

The 2004 O'Reilly Open Source Convention, to be held in Portland, OR from
July 26-30, is now accepting proposals delving into topics that matter
most to the entire open source community, which includes new--and perhaps
unexpected--players. "OSCON provides an analysis of what's happening now
and what may come--what will affect the future landscape. This convention
brings together projects in a way that other conferences don't. We're able
to cover a broad range of topics in a deep, coherent way," says OSCON
program chair Nathan Torkington. "It's not just about trimming costs at
large companies, it's about collaborating and innovating our way into the
next big thing. This convention is like a radar. It's a mix of what
you'll be doing as soon as you get back to your desk and what you'll be
doing differently in six months."

The keynote speakers for the next OSCON exemplify the event's wide-ranging
mix: Freeman, George, and Esther Dyson, presenting a joint keynote
address; Robert Lefkowitz, who was one of OSCON 2003's most
thought-provoking speakers; Milton Ngan of Weta Digital, the company that
created the digital effects for "The Lord of the Rings" films; and Tim
O'Reilly. Other influential open source leaders will come to OSCON to
accept the first Open Source Awards, produced by the Open Source Institute
(OSI) and ZDNet (winners will be announced in stages during the winter and
spring of 2004).

Proposals Submission Information--Deadline: February 9, 2004

Individuals and companies interested in making session or tutorial
presentations, or participating in panel discussions, are invited to
submit proposals. Presentations by marketing staff or with a marketing
focus will not be accepted; neither will submissions made by anyone
other than the proposed speaker. Session presentations are 45 or 90
minutes long, and tutorials are either a half-day (three hours) or a
full day (six hours).

The theme for OSCON 2004 is "Opening the Future: Discover, Develop,
Deliver." Proposals for sessions that help attendees discover new open
source projects, develop new relationships, or deliver value to their
employers and coworkers are especially welcome. Proposals that are not
related to the theme are also encouraged, such as case studies showing how
open source software solved thorny problems or replaced expensive closed
source software, best practices for a tool or system, new features or
modules, and fundamental skills.

The tracks and conferences running in parallel at the convention include:

Ruby
- Introductions to aspects of Ruby for people unfamiliar with the language
- Power user talks for experienced Ruby programmers

OSCON is the one place open source practitioners of every stripe can
gather to learn useful skills, discover what's new, and "cross-fertilize"
projects. Concludes Tim O'Reilly, "OSCON is for anyone interested in open
source. It's the one event that brings together leaders of all the major
open source projects not only with the hacker community but also with
commercial software developers, business leaders, analysts, and even
opponents of open source."

Additional Resources:

For information on exhibition and sponsorship opportunities at the
convention, contact Andrew Calvo at (707) 827-7176, or andrewc@oreilly.com.

About O'Reilly

O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.